The Pin

The Pin are the latest outfit to spring from the oft-derided womb that is the Cambridge Footlights, an institution that confers some advantages on its progeny, but also exposes them to other people's prejudices. This lot have a bit more going for them than academic pedigree though – they've got an endorsement from arbiters of alternative comedy cool The Invisible Dot, and they're heavily tipped for future stardom. Pin members Mark Fiddaman, Alex Owen and Ben Ashenden certainly can't be faulted for ambition – their debut offering is a stream-of-consciousness sketch show that travels from Shakespearean parody to Vic and Bob-esque whimsy (look out for the man in the suit made of bees).

Pleasance Courtyard, to 27 Aug

Joe Lycett: Some Lycett Hot

Joe Lycett. Photograph: Graeme Copper

As befits a man whose opening gambit onstage involves discussing his bisexuality, Joe Lycett is a performer who defies easy categorisation. There's a part of him that fits snugly into the tradition of the camp comic – with his fey manner, fluting voice and flair for catty audience interaction, he could be seen as the next Graham Norton or Alan Carr. But there's something altogether more spiky about the Lycett offering, a streak of anarchy that lies dangerously close to the surface. While he's very funny mocking the mundanities of his suburban upbringing, he's at his best when playing pranks on the rest of the world. It seems he's got a constant sense of mischief that manifests itself in all sorts of interesting ways – causing havoc in a string of McJobs, sending misleading messages via the gay pick-up site Grindr, and becoming involved in a never-ending and deeply provocative email exchange with someone who slagged him off on the internet.

Pleasance Courtyard, to 26 Aug

Nish Kumar: Who Is Nish Kumar?

Nish Kumar. Photograph: Idil Sukan

The Edinburgh fringe's very own debutant season gets more competitive every year, as scores of first-timers bring their shows up north with their eyes firmly on the prize of the Best Newcomer award. Nish Kumar sticks the problem facing many of these wet-behind-the-ears comics slap bang in the title of his show, but, for a newbie, he's got a track record in producing imaginative, gently cerebral comedy as part of the Gentlemen Of Leisure sketch duo. As a solo stand-up, he's a warm, likable presence, always bubbling with ideas and an inescapable urge to communicate them. This debut show is (much as you'd expect) concerned with identity, as Kumar picks out his own weaknesses and holds them up to highly entertaining public ridicule.

Underbelly, to 27 Aug

Angela Barnes

Angela Barnes. Photograph: Ed Moore

While there are plenty of bright-eyed young things dreaming that the fringe will lead them straight to TV stardom, Angela Barnes has the cynical, unimpressed attitude of someone who's seen it all before. A relative latecomer to the comedy business, much of her accessible and appealing stand-up material covers the gloom of feeling life is passing you by. A resident of Kent, she's also good at milking laughs out of the grimmer aspects of the garden of England. There's something enjoyably unshowbizzy about Barnes – she just carries on slinging out great world-weary gags, more like your wittiest mate than an in-your-face young comic, and no less funny for it. Having won the coveted BBC New Comedy award last year, she's now ready for the next level.

Laughing Horse @Espionage, to 26 Aug

Marek Larwood: Typecast

Marek Larwood. Photograph: Claes Gellerbrink

Marek Larwood may already have played a fair few fringes as part of the mind-exploding live phenomenon We Are Klang!, where he featured alongside latterday Inbetweeners star Greg Davies. Typecast, however, is his solo debut. Here he plays several bizarre characters – ostensibly trying to tackle "the stigma of being typecast", but more as a means to indulge in inspired high-energy silliness. Larwood's odd physicality and impressive clowning instincts form part of his appeal as a comedian, but he's also got a real talent for big boffo gags – the filthier the better. Davies has already gone solo to stunning effect – and if this show can provide the sizzle and balls-out insanity of classic Klang, it could end up as one of the fringe's hottest tickets.

Pleasance Courtyard, to 26 Aug

Daniel Simonsen: Champions

Daniel Simonsen. Photograph: Edward Moore

There are deadpan comedians, and then there's Daniel Simonsen, a comic who it's impossible to imagine doing anything warm and normal. Blessed with an inscrutable expression and a halting Norwegian accent, onstage his is the comedy of pure alienation, detailing his struggles with such simple things as meeting new flatmates or greeting people in the street, as if he's a recently-arrived Martian trying to make sense of human social codes. But while it's unlike the stuff you get from most circuit comics, it's also packed with laugh-out-loud moments. Simonsen's real achievement is to take many of the attributes associated with "anti-comedians" like Ed Aczel and Neil Hamburger – the stiff delivery, the deliberate non-jokes – and repurpose them to make an act with the potential for broad mainstream appeal.